The Difference Between Me and My Opponent
by Darth Skywalker
Summary: Peter Parker: Spider-Man #167 - Last issue, Peter Parker declared that "Spider-Man as the world knows him is history." But what about Spider-Man as the world DOESN'T know him? Also, SHIELD releases a prisoner while a mayoral candidate prepares to debate.


_At a demonstration on radiation, high school student Peter Parker was bitten by an irradiated spider from which he gained the arachnid's incredible abilities. When a burglar killed his beloved Uncle Ben, a grief-stricken Peter vowed to use his great powers in the service of his fellow man, because he learned an invaluable lesson: with great power there must also come great responsibility._

**PETER PARKER: SPIDER-MAN**

#167

**The Difference Between Me and My Opponent - Part One of Four**

"_Boom Goes the Dynamite"_

Note: 3 months have passed since our last story ("I Quit"). May Parker has declared her candidacy for the mayor of New York City as an independent and the campaign is now up and running.

_/~/~/~/~/~/~/_

**Daily Bugle – Late Edition – Front Page Story**

"_As the campaign for the mayor of New York City kicks off, one of the key events is a mayoral debate in which all candidates come together at Carnegie Hall to answer voter questions about where they stand on the issues. This event will take place tonight at 7:00 PM and is open to the first 100 people that appear. The moderator is Marcus Bestman, a local scientist and businessman. Below is a recap of the candidates:_

_Thomas Fireheart_

_CEO of Fireheart Enterprises, a multinational corporation with regional offices around the world. He is running as a Democrat and his platform is centered around three key points – imposing anti-gentrification measures, keeping crime down by keeping young people in school, and getting rid of federal bureaucracy involvement in disaster response initiatives – concentrating all the power in the hands of New York police, fire, and ambulance services instead of relying on homeland security. He is also a proud Native American and while Native American rights are less of an issue in New York City, he states that the plight of his people is what motivates him to be a successful person._

_Senator Robert Martin_

_Current Senator of New York, has served the state for many years. He is running as a Republican and his platform is centered around reigning in superhero activity in the city, as well as immediately putting out arrest warrants for those superheroes that cross a certain line – specifically, due to his son being attacked by Spider-Man several years ago, he has made it his mission to see the wall-crawler, which this paper has identified as a menace, behind bars. He also wants to cut taxes on all income brackets by 30%, cut spending for what he describes as wasteful welfare based programs and give tax breaks to all businesses of all sizes across the city to help the economy. __**This newspaper endorses Mr. Martin**_**.**

_May Parker_

_A most unusual candidate in that she is a retiree. She is running as an independent and her platform is includes an angle in where she wants superheroes and the police to coordinate their activity together to better fight crime. She also wants to ban "Big Brother" type cameras, which neither of her opponents have said they oppose, and feels the way to jump start the economy is to invest in anti-homelessness measures. In her words, "we can't have peace on the streets till everyone gets a piece." Lastly, she supports restoring term limits on the mayor's office, which were overturned by the previous mayor who is retiring and has unveiled a plan for open campaign financing._

_/~/~/~/~/~/_

**The Raft (Island Prison for Supervillains run by S.H.I.E.L.D), NY**

"Colonel Fury?"

The voice startled Nick Fury, who sat in his private office in the prison, with little lighting, at his desk in the prison.

He turned around in his chair to find his second in command, Maria Hill, standing at the door.

"I think we're ready."

Fury immediately knew what she was talking about. He stood and grabbed the tablet computer he had been using from the desk and walked to the door. As the door sealed shut behind them the two proceeded in silence to the experimental chamber of the prison.

When they arrived at their destination, a large laboratory room, they saw Dr. Hank Pym standing in his lab coat, and he looked at Fury and nodded. Fury nodded back, and then he exchanged looks with Hill.

They stood in front of a sealed, compressed, apparently blast-proof door. A computer terminal was nearby, and a tech stood at the station, ready to open the door with a single keystroke.

Before giving the order, Fury looked at Hank again. "You're sure he's cured? There's no way this can backfire? We're taking a huge risk here, Hank."

"Yes, he's fine. And if this works, Colonel...well, you know how much these psycho villains are going to freak out."

Fury sighed, looked at the floor, and then walked over to the terminal and the tech moved aside. "Let me do this."

He took a deep breath, and then pressed the button, muttering "Open, Sesame."

A rumbling noise seemed to come out of nowhere, and then the doors began to slide apart. Smoke billowed out of the sealed chamber that he had just opened, and he knew it would take a few minutes before they could see clearly.

After a few tense moments, two men in white lab coats emerged, smiling. One of them walked up to Fury and offered a hand. "Colonel, we were successful," he declared. "It was a great idea for you to leave us in there and let us work on him. You're going to be really pleased with how this turned out."

He then gestured to the now-open door.

A figure could be seen walking towards the entrance, and for just a moment, Fury had a sick feeling and wanted to end this. _You can still back out...just shut the door now_.

But just as he completed the thought, the figure stepped out and the smoke cleared to reveal S.H.I.E.L.D's finest work.

Norman Osborn, formerly known as the Green Goblin, stood in a suit and tie, looking very healthy and very normal. He looked around for a moment, and then his eyes met Fury's.

"Ah, Colonel!" he said enthusiastically. "My regards. I do appreciate your curing me of my...problem. As your wonderful assistants here told me, you have some big plans for me. Well, I'm going to look forward to helping others who were in the same predicament as myself. Now, what will you have me do?"

Fury looked at one of the other two techs who had come out of the chamber with Osborn and whispered to him. "You sure this man is clean now?"

The tech gave him a thumbs up. Fury sighed again and turned back to Osborn.

"Well, Mr. Osborn, it's good to see you again. I do think we need to have a long talk first, though."

And with that, the two men exited the chamber, followed by the techs, to discuss exactly how best Norman Osborn could be used as a "reformed man."

What Fury would not discuss, and hoped Osborn would not remember, was exactly how he had "cured" him.

If word of what exactly S.H.I.E.L.D had done with this man ever got out to the public, Fury would never be able to show his face in public ever again.

/~/~/~/~/~/

**Public School 108, aka Midtown High School, Forest Hills, NY**

"So you see guys, it's something that a good scientist must always keep in the back of his mind when he feels he is making major advances in his studies or research. 'How far should I go before I draw a line?' 'If this treatment was being performed on me or anyone else, how would I feel about it?' 'Is this a case of me playing God?' Some of you might be too young to remember, but there was a huge debate about this topic when the first successful clone of a mammal was made, back in 1996, with a sheep called Dolly. Have any of you—"

"Mister Parker, not trying to be rude, but...what exactly does this have to do with science?"

Peter Parker, AP honors biology teacher, looked at the source of the question. Jennifer Hardesty. Despite the interruption, he smiled. As Spider-Man, he had helped this kid out last year when she got mixed up with a villain known as the Shade, and had been able to prevent her brother from overdosing on drugs. _(Ed: ASM #37-42 v. 2)_. The girl had been living in an underground-style homeless shelter during that time, until Peter had managed to write a glowing recommendation letter for her that ended up getting her a scholarship to ESU, (with also a bit of pushing and prodding from Peter himself), which also provided her immediate housing when they learned of her situation.

"Well, Miss Hardesty, as I was _saying_," he said, smiling as she turned red and the rest of the class giggled softly. "Ethics is quite relevant to science. This might be going off on a tangent, but while some people say that science exists only to explain natural phenomenon, I, for one have always wondered...why you'd want to explain all this stuff in the first place. The only answer could be...to try and improve life for mankind."

The bell suddenly rang, and kids jumped out of their desks and headed for the door. "Chapter 20 tomorrow everyone! Don't forget we have a quiz next week!" Peter yelled, catching only a few of the students who were at the tail end.

As Jennifer rose to leave, Peter shrugged. "Hey, hope you're not mad, teacher's pet."

She rolled her eyes and chuckled. "See you later, Mister Parker." As she walked to the door and opened it, Peter was surprised to see his former student, Joey Weying, was waiting outside, trying to look low-key. Joey was a studious type that had reminded Peter of himself at that age and had been classmates and friends (as far as he knew) with Jennifer. Peter recalled how, with some quick thinking and scientific know-how, he had helped Peter's alter-ego, Spider-Man, take down a disgruntled former student who had tried to shoot up the school. _(Ed: ASM #32 v. 2)_. As Peter was about to wave to his old student, he was surprised as Jennifer's eyes lit up upon seeing Joey and and the two met for a...kiss? Then they took each other's hands and were about to walk away, when Joey stopped, seemed to sigh, and turned back around and nodded at Peter, managing to smile.

_Well I'll be damned...Peter Parker, matchmaker._ He smiled as he realized his two favorite students were now dating each other. Cute. "How's the family?" Peter yelled at him, good naturedly.

Joey's face darkened, and he turned back around, grabbed his girlfriend's hand and walked away quickly. _What was THAT all about?_ Peter wondered.

As he got his things together, he walked out of the classroom, made a quick stop in the teacher's lounge to grab his lunch, and then headed out of the school, walking in the direction of the Forest Hills train station.

His wife, the supermodel turned actress Mary Jane Watson, was flying back in tonight from a premiere out in Hollywood and Peter was going to pick her up. Due to the recent "new addition" to the Parker household, better known as their long-lost "adopted" daughter May being returned to them, MJ had decided to take a hiatus from her acting career to raise their child – she had seen the strain of Hollywood couples trying to raise a kid and continuing their career at the same time and wanted no part of that. However, she was well aware that she and Peter needed to make money as well, and so she had recently started a YouTube channel for her growing fanbase, full of makeup tutorials. The site had quickly offered her a "partnership," which brought in around $1000 a week in advertising money after taxes and more if her videos brought in a certain amount of ad traffic. Not bad at all.

As Peter hopped on the train, his thoughts turned to his "other" life – masquerading as the Amazing Spider-Man. After deciding he was going to call it quits upon his daughter returning, he had been convinced by his Aunt May that he should find some way to make sure he scaled back his wall crawling activities but still used his powers for some sort of good. He had decided soon after to solve the problem via means of consulting.

But right now, he had scheduled his retirement press conference for today. He didn't have any desire to hold a full-blown conference, but instead he had called up his friend and ex-girlfriend, Betty Brant, deciding she would be the perfect person to conduct a "final" interview with Spider-Man, on behalf of her employer, _The Daily Bugle_. This morning, she had been kind enough to agree to watch little Mayday for him, as MJ was out of town and Peter had work.

As he arrived at the stop closest to Betty's apartment, he got out while reminiscing about how he and Betty just hadn't worked out, but had become so close anyway over the long run. He also privately wondered whether, at least amongst his closest friends, it might not be time to just reveal what he did on the side and get it over with. This was a different era. The idea of a secret identity wasn't such a big deal anymore.

He got to her apartment building and stood outside, buzzing her room. She responded back and the door to the building unlocked. Peter made his way up to the 3rd floor where she lived, knocked, and waited...waited...waited.

Suddenly he heard a loud scream. Peter tensed..._should I get ready to go into action here? Is something wrong?_

And then he relaxed as he realized he was hearing the sound of his own daughter. He smirked as Betty opened the door, her hair disheveled and her apartment looking like a mess behind her. She smiled, looking relieved and overjoyed to see her friend.

"Peter!" she said, and grabbed his arm, pulling him in and closing the door. She pointed to the couch where the toddler was drenched in milk and wailing very loudly. Apparently she had rejected Betty's attempt to try and give her milk and the strong swat at the bottle had ended up bursting the contents onto the little girl's body. Betty had awkwardly tried to clean her up with paper towels but had ended up just making the mess bigger.

Peter chuckled and walked over to the little girl. "Why hello, little miss rabble-rouser," he commented, as he swooped up his daughter, dripping milk and all, and immediately stopped crying. She then stuck her thumb in her mouth before Peter could do anything else.

Betty shook her head, half-bewildered, half-amused. "Sheesh. I don't know how you do it. I was trying for the last hour and a half to get her to calm down. I tried please, pretty please, and please with a cherry on top."

Peter shrugged. "I have the magic touch," he deadpanned, before getting serious, as he cradled his daughter. "Listen, Betty...I talked to Spider-Man. He wants to do an interview with a news organization, and asked me to get in touch with a good reporter. First person I thought of was you. I think this is gonna be something really big. You in?"

"Sure! That's really nice of you to—" she started, before stopping and looking down, an embarrassed look forming on her face. "Actually Peter...I should tell you something...and I really should have mentioned it to you earlier but...I uh, quit working at the Bugle a few months back. I got hired by Google's Investigative News Division as a senior reporter."

"Hey, congratulations!" Peter exclaimed, genuinely happy for his friend. He figured the hiring had to be recent as he hadn't seen anything by her in the papers yet. "So he can still do the interview through you, right?"

"Well..." she trailed off, before finding her voice again. "It's like this...I don't know if you're aware or not, but I found out the Bugle is going through some really hard times from Ben and Kat. I know...if I take this opportunity, it will be awesome for my career and all that, but...I dunno..."

"You wanna give back," Peter finished for her, nodding slowly. "I understand. You know Betty," he said, as he turned to the door, grabbing the stroller and heading to the door. "You are a great human being with a heart of gold. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise." He kissed her on the cheek. "Thanks for letting me know."

She squeezed his hand, smiled weakly and gave the youngest Parker family member a peck, before the two parted ways.

As Peter walked back on the street, he opened up the stroller and placed his daughter inside while pondering what Betty had just revealed. Was she fudging the truth about having left the Bugle? Did they actually fire her? Hopefully not...but with the way the economy was going, there was no telling what could happen to anyone's job. Peter privately wondered about his own job security all the time, and this revelation about the Bugle being in trouble gave him concern for his own welfare. Whenever he had been in a tight spot, he had been able to rely on taking pictures for Jonah and while the old man had grumbled, it had always paid the bills. But now, Peter had a feeling that ship might have sailed, permanently.

In any case, he would be glad to set it up with Robbie instead. As he took his daughter out of the stroller upon reaching the train station to the airport, he felt his phone buzz briefly, meaning an email.

Essentially, his big consulting plan had been to set up a regular advertisement in the major papers, offering Spider-Man's services and mentorship to aspiring superheroes and his added muscle to experienced superheroes who needed assistance with supervillain-related problems. This is what he had meant to MJ when he said that "Spider-Man as the world knows him is over." He was now a superhero consultant. It hadn't gone too swimmingly, as he had gotten ambushed by villains a few times, gotten pranked a few times by some kids, and one of the other times had Jameson try to get some person to use the ad to find out his secret identity. But after a while, he had decided that the best thing to do was to simply have his "meetings" in a very public spot.

And this time, the email he had just gotten seemed to have suggested that this slight shift in plans might have worked. He studied the message. It was from Rocket Racer, aka Robert Farrell.

"_Spidey – hope this thing works. First time caller/emailer/whatever. Anyway, I'm seeing some strange underworld activity in regards to the mayoral election. I know you're no politician (though you're pretty damn persuasive), but it looks like there might be a ton of people involved in trying to frame one of the candidates in something major that's about to go down. I needed to tell someone in case I get busted for finding this out or whatever, so I decided to give you a ring. Anyway, if you can swing it, let's meet tonight to discuss, if you got some time, in Central Park. Regards – Rob."_

Peter put his phone back thoughtfully in his pocket as the train approached and he got on, Mayday in tow, now fast asleep. He pondered the Rocket Racer's message and his mind immediately went to Aunt May. She was going to be in that mayor's debate tonight. Maybe he should be there to keep an eye on things...but she had explicitly told him not to be there – she had remarked that just for the first debate, she needed to not be "so nervous" and wanted to try it alone. Peter had reluctantly agreed, but now he had to go grab MJ before the evening anyway from her flight back.

_The juggling act that is my life_, he mused, as he felt his daughter move slightly. The beefy looking guy next to him made a face, looked at Mayday, then at Peter, and then held his nose.

"Yo, dude..." the burly man spoke, pointing at Mayday's back. "You a new dad or something? Cuz, uh..."

_Oh, crap!_ Peter just realized what the guy was talking about. _Disgusting._

He held his own nose, gritted his teeth, and pulled the back side of his daughter's pajamas away from her for a moment and surveyed the damage.

_Yep...diaper change in Aisle 1. Betty Brant, I am _SO _going to kill you..._

/~/~/~/~/~/

**Fireheart Campaign Headquarters, Manhattan, New York, NY**

"_Mmm..._maybe I should hit the emergency button and we can finish up in here, _hmm, _baby?"

As the elevator was about to reach the first floor, Thomas Fireheart untangled himself of a woman's arms, and pulled away from an intense kiss he had just been engaged in. In a past life he might have thought this sort of thing scandalous, but being seen like this was still enough to embarrass him. He didn't need that before this most critical hour.

"Not now, 'leesh," he whispered lovingly, as he straightened his suit, adjusted his tie, and re-combed his hair just as the elevator touched down on 1. "But I'm definitely going to need it tonight, when this is all over." He offered his arm.

Felicia Hardy, also known as the Black Cat and his current girlfriend, took it eagerly as the doors slid open and the couple walked out into the lobby of the campaign building. The two of them headed towards the street, but not before Fireheart had yelled at his doorman, Reese, to make sure he and everyone else watched the big debate tonight and to wish him good luck. The old man, for his part, had just chuckled.

Fireheart was immediately swarmed by press as he and Felicia came out of the building. An army of about 50 or 60. Not too crazy, but still pretty rough. He and Felicia quickly exchanged looks, and then they both suddenly became much more aggressive as they pushed their way free and to the limousine that was waiting for them. It took the press off guard, but it worked.

The two got into the limo and Felicia quickly loaded herself up on booze while Fireheart, on his tablet computer, took care of business that he had been neglecting all week thanks to campaign and fundraising priorities. They got to Carnegie Hall in about half an hour, and as they exited, they were accosted by 4 times the press they had encountered outside his building.

Fireheart rolled his eyes, taking Felicia's arm again, but the wine she had consumed was washing over her quickly now, and she loudly greeted the press with a loud, "Good evening, my friends!" -something that she would later remark was her way of showing bipartisanship by paying homage to John McCain, who used the phrase quite often to show adoration for the press with whom he felt he had some sort of special relationship.

He quickly rushed his girlfriend inside, and relaxed when he saw the crowd was much more restrained indoors. He and the girlfriend made their way to the stage and met each of his opponents and their significant others. Felicia paused when she saw May Parker, aunt of Peter, and Fireheart cringed for a moment.

Peter was a great guy, and someone who Fireheart felt he probably would always live in the shadow of, at least in Felicia's eyes. She had dated him several years in the past, although they had both moved on now. But Parker's aunt was the opponent now. He didn't need Felicia to start bringing up fun times in the past, and so before they could start small talk and attract the attention of the crowd, Fireheart pulled her away.

As Felicia turned to head to the audience, she stopped before him and unfastened the top button on her elaborate blazer to reveal a hint of leather underneath to him, just out of sight of the crowd. So she was wearing her costume, in case of an emergency. Good girl. He nodded and she continued to her seat, reserved in the front row.

"All right, everyone. Places, please," the moderator called out over the PA, and the candidates got into place. "We are live in 5...4...3...2...1."

"Good evening," he began. "My name is Marcus Bestman, and this is the first of a series of debates between the candidates for the office of mayor of New York City. Before we begin, I'd like to give each of the candidates an opportunity to introduce themselves."

He turned to Fireheart. "Mr. Thomas Fireheart, you may begin."

He looked straight into the camera, flashed his million dollar smile, cleared his throat, stole a glace at Felicia, who was intently watching the proceedings, winked at her, and then began.

"Good evening, New York City."

/~/~/~/~/~/

Back at the campaign headquarters, the doorman Reese watched his boss introduce himself to the city, and hoped people enjoyed it. Maybe he would get some kind of a raise if he won. A new office? Hey, an old man could dream.

As the phone rang, he smiled and picked it up. "Hello, this is the front desk!" he called out cheerfully.

"_Ba ba ba ba ba BOMB, ba ba ba ba ba ba BOMB," _the voice on the other end uttered, singing the lyrics to the popular song "Barbara Ann," sounding slightly muffled yet still discernible. "_You better get movin', old man...it's about to get a little HOT in there."_

_An idiot calling in a bomb threat. Great. _Reese immediately hung up and slammed the alarm at his desk. Klaxons began to flare and the elevator was suspended. In about 10 minutes, the 30 or so people that were still in the building appeared below. Reese did a final intercom check to make sure no one else was in, and then the group ran outside where the police had appeared by now and took them all into squad cars. The area had been quickly cordoned off.

Reese looked back at the building. For a moment, he could have sworn he saw someone on the top of the building jump...or even...fly off to somewhere else. _Nah. Must just be seeing things_.

**LaGuardia Airport, New York City, NY**

_Now THIS is what you call skill, _Peter Parker thought to himself.

Daughter in his left hand, he used his right hand to pull his wife close to him as they kissed after a week of being away from each other due to MJ's trip to California for a movie premiere. After they pulled away, MJ grabbed her daughter and smothered her in kisses, and Peter proudly told her about his proficiency at diaper changing. MJ's eyes widened in horror.

"Oh my gosh tiger...you did use the right brand, right?"

Peter slapped his head. "Oh great...please tell me we use Huggies...please tell me we-"

She gasped...making Peter think that indeed, he had failed...and then she started giggling. "Gotcha!"

Peter's shoulders sagged and he smiled ruefully. "Crisis averted...you little trickster," he said, as the three of them headed towards the airport subway station to head home. Peter mentioned to his wife the planned meeting tonight with the Rocket Racer, and she was about to tell him some juicy tidbits of Hollywood gossip she had learned while on her trip there, when she suddenly froze upon looking at a TV inside one of the airport bars. A crowd was gathered around the TV looking up, and Peter walked over to see what the hub bub was about. Maybe it was Aunt May's debate.

His stomach turned as he saw this was not the debate, but something else.

"_That's right John, we are in the WABC Helicopter and as you can see, some sort of explosion has taken place here at the Thomas Fireheart Campaign Headquarters...we're still not sure what the cause is or if this was politically motivated, but as everyone knows, the debate between Mr. Fireheart and his opponents is taking place on the other side of the city at Carnegie Hall right now...no word on whether the candidates have been informed yet of this apparent explosion..."_

As Peter gaped at the burning roof of the building, he suddenly felt his phone ring. He grabbed it immediately and answered without looking at the caller ID. "Yeah?" he asked.

"_Spidey,"_ the voice on the other end replied. "_It's Robert. Get your red and blue butt down to that Headquarters now. I have a bad feeling that this is connected to that underworld chatter I was telling you about. Meet me at the building next door."_

"Roger," he said, hanging up and walking back to his wife and daughter. He handed MJ the folded up stroller and kissed her.

"Itsy bitsy Spider-time?" she asked, looking much less disappointed than he had dreaded. _Phew._

"Well, I gotta check out that explosion, but I just got a call from my date tonight, and he says it's connected to what he wanted to talk to me about anyway. Sorry MJ...but I gotta go...

"It's time to consult."

**TO BE CONTINUED in Peter Parker: Spider Man #168 - **_**Irregularly Scheduled Programming**_


End file.
